Blame Notre Dame for backing out of rivalry

[Plaschke, from B10] the bad guy here.

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USC beat Notre Dame in South Bend in 1931 en route to winning a championship.

(Associated Press)

Anybody who felt the buzz around the CFP first-round games last weekend would attest, this is where USC needs to be playing.

If the Trojans truly want to return to greatness, being selected for the CFP is the goal. Not beating Notre Dame. Not even beating UCLA. It’s all about the tournament.

USC needs to put itself in the best possible position to be playing on a mid-December weekend, and that means no longer being the only Big Ten school to play a major nonconference game in the middle of the season or later.

The schedule has become tough enough. The Trojans don’t need to make it tougher with the kind of game nobody else in their conference is playing.

They need Notre Dame in August, not in late October or mid-November.

But, as it turns out, Notre Dame believes it doesn’t need USC at all.